8 Comments

I'm wondering what the reaction to this book would be if the hero was a Palestinian (a resistance fighter, let's say) and the bad guy was in the IDF?

Jus' sayin', is all...

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"Resistance fighter"?

You mean a Hamas murderer who takes hostages, rapes women and murders children?

I'm figuring that we'd be watching a Michael Moorcock story, where the monster is shown as the protagonist.

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It's called 'psychological projection' I believe. Defined as someone who accuses others of doing what they do themselves.

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What exactly were the Palestinians resisting on October 7th? Tourists? Newborns? Rank and file Palestinians supported that, cheered in the streets. There is no heroism in that.

And fuck your 'psychological projection'.

https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/al-jazeera-deletes-fake-story-about-idf-rapes-in-gaza-hospital-j1uquwad

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Only way to find out: go write the story, submit it to UR, and see what the reviewer says.

Do a little less wondering and a little more proving your point.

Make us proud, Evelyn.

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Thank you for your much more measured reply. It suddenly struck me in fact that over there in the States there is far more mainstream media pro-Israel bias, bordering on propaganda, in which speakers are allowed to make statements which are not challenged in any way. Yes, it has been the same over here in Europe but not to the same extent, in the sense that it's been a lot easier to get accurate information, and even broadcasters like the BBC are allowing a few voices from the 'other' side - but it's been months and months in the coming. A lot of the stuff about 7 october has been debunked by various alternative media sites (Grayzone, Mintpress are good for this kind of thing), but of course these places get somewhat shadow banned because they go against the mainstream narrative (and as such they're portrayed as conspiracy theorists or 'Russian disinformation' which is rubbish). So from a certain point of view if the previous commenters only have mainstream sources to go on then perhaps their comments are understandable. I'm assuming in America people simply aren't taught the history of that part of the world such as the Nakba and the ongoing illegal colonialism. One-sided, I mean. It's certainly true that one-sided, official narrative stuff (let's also say that includes what they call 'woke') is increasing, and less room for debate and discussion is allowed. And that's not good. Gatekeepers are everywhere - including in the world of publishing!

Anyhow - as a writer, I liked your comment because you made me think 'Ah - now there's a challenge!' I did, as it happens, write a short story (around 1,700 words if I remember) recently which I posted on my Substack for the Lunar Awards (you can read it here: https://inadifferentplace.substack.com/p/fragment-of-a-time-capsule?r=2s9hod), which kind of tackles the theme of resistance to invasion and how it can make people set aside their usual peaceful nature and do terrible things - because that's what war and conflict do. It's obviously a completely different setting (classic sci-fi, although with a slightly experimental narrative style) to the book reviewed here, but the idea/theme is relatable I guess. Some of the themes about 'fear of the approaching other' (i.e. ETI contact) do crop up a lot in my writing (including/especially my book), because if humans are ever to leave this system and meet other intelligent lifeforms then they really are going to have to resolve this us v them tendency. At the moment, if there is ETI just over there at Centauri knowing everything that happens on this planet, then if I were them, I would not only be anxious but I would take interventional measures and place this system under quarantine (see also 'Encounter at Farpoint' - Q has a good point there, imho), meaning you're not allowed out.

My latest story/post is a lot more fun, though, and definitely one for classic SF fans.

Anyhow - thank you for the challenge! I appreciate it.

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Sod it. I have decided to gladly take up your challenge. Is it acceptable to submit something for review which is only available as an ebook on Smashwords? (if so, here is the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1108173 and you can use this 100% of promo code MH63R, which expires 30 April - if you would like me to submit formally as well let me know). Obviously I would love to get it published by a proper publisher, but aside from anything else I have no idea whatsoever about comp titles so I wouldn't have a clue which publishers to try.

This is seven short stories and some essays, including my decipherment of the famous wow signal, demonstrating its authenticity (example: change the alphanumerics to numbers and you get 6-14-26-30-19-5, which contains Pi to 7 decimals. Add the numbers too if you like; but that's just channel 2; there's beautiful maths in the other channels as well). So the subject matter in the book is more important than might be at first apparent.

Anyhow, perhaps, in the interests of reconciliation and interstellar diplomacy, I should once again apologise a little for any upset caused. Perhaps I slipped into writer mode - a lot of my writing tends towards the provocative and edgy. Plus I have been living in a rural out of the way place for 15 years so I don't get any modern world stress (aside from poverty of course), and I studiously avoid mainstream news. So perhaps I don't appreciate just how awful things must be with a continuous stream of deliberately stress-inducing news items, making people permanently on edge. It wasn't like this when I was a child. Maybe they've put stuff in the water too, who knows. It'll be Logan's Run & Soylent Green before we know it.

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I'm not a reviewer at UR, but they do provide submission instructions on their About page. You may have better luck if you follow those: https://upstreamreviews.substack.com/about

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